Though the inner-party tension might simmer for a while, the kerfuffle within the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has to an extent been resolved with the election of Sitaram Yechury as general secretary for a second term at the 22nd party congress in Hyderabad.
It is an index to the discord within that the appointment of the person at the helm was a subject of intense speculation till Sunday evening… even 24 hours after Yechury’s tactical line in relation to the Indian National Congress was adopted. His re-election, therefore, gives the Bengal lobby a mild edge… certainly over Kerala and arguably also over Tripura whose former Chief Minister, Manik Sarkar, was among the probables.
The party in the tiny state, where it ruled for 25 years without any major hiccup, now requires his presence most acutely. Which alone explains why he wasn’t relocated to the central leadership.
The party’s nod to Yechury’s second innings at the crease has come after months of internal bickering and semantic quibbling over whether or not to have what they call an “understanding” ~ and not an alliance ~ with the Congress. Both his role as the party’s No. One and his political line ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election have been reaffirmed. Hyderabad has not diluted his significance in the overall construct.
A firm decision on the electoral compulsion was as imperative as a decision on the next man at the helm. Markedly, the incumbent’s candidature was decided by a show of hands in the newly-elected 95-member central committee.
It is the absence of a vote, albeit a certitude of inner-party democracy, that has been able to avert what might have been a visibly split decision. No less critically, it has been able to avoid a contest after a bout of ideological churning over the equation with the Congress.
The party has generally been reserved while greeting the re-election; none has gone on record to suggest that Yechury has upstaged the Prakash Karat/Pinarayi Vijayan school of Marxist praxis though that must be the underlying message.
The renewal of his position cannot but be welcomed by the apparatchiks of Alimuddin Street and the omnipotent CDC (Calcutta District Committee). His proximity to the Bengal lobby has been a striking feature of inner-party politics.
Few sessions of the party congress have been as stormy as the one just ended. A reassuring message from Yechury was, therefore, compelling ~ “If there is one message that has gone out from this 22nd party congress, it is that the CPI-M has emerged united and determined to carry out the revolutionary task”. In point of fact, it is a party of reluctant revolutionaries with a singular agenda ~ the defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The CPI-M has been a mute witness to the burial of Ideology.